Thursday's Players Championship predictions and snooker betting tips

Where to watch

ITV4, 1pm & 7pm Thursday

Best bet

Shaun Murphy to win 6-4 correct score
1pt 5-1 bet365, Betfred

Betting offers

• Paddy Power are giving away free bets to new and existing customers and all you need is an account. Sign up here
• Sky Bet are offering new customers multiple free bets when they sign up. Click here for free bets, money-back specials and BuildABet free bets
• Betfair have lots of offers and money back offers. Sign up for a new account here
• To get free bets from Ladbrokes today, simply sign up to a new account here
• Don't have a Coral account? They have an offer for new customers here
• New William Hill customers can claim free bets and benefit from their daily offers including Scratch Of The Day by clicking here

Preview

Shaun Murphy showed his class in fending off Mark Selby's fightback in round one of the Players Championship and can take down another gutsy opponent in Ryan Day.

The Magician is seeded ten, Day two, but the layers and no doubt punters are going to struggle to make too many cases against Murphy.

Welsh Open finalist on Sunday after a week in which he reeled off six hundreds, he looked in good nick building up a 5-1 lead over Selby on Tuesday.

Selby pulled it back to 5-3 amid accusations that Murphy lost focus, a criticism he strenuously denied, before getting up in the ninth.

Day can't buy a win at the moment and has barely put a foot right since stunning Mark Allen to win the British Open in October.

Day failed to qualify for his beloved Welsh Open but a 102 break and a couple of half-centuries saw him steam clear of Chris Wakelin in his opener to win 6-2.

Murphy should be able to take this but Day can keep him honest.

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport